Bengaluru cruise 4-0 winners past Indian Air Force in Durand Cup

Bengaluru FC Media 

Simon Grayson’s Bengaluru FC side ran away 4-0 winners against Indian Air Force FT at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan, in Kolkata, on Tuesday, climbing to joint-top of Group A in the 2022 Durand Cup in the process, level on points with Mohammedan SC. Goals from Roy Krishna and Sunil Chhetri gave the Blues a 2-0 lead heading into the break before substitutes Faisal Ali and Sivasakthi Narayanan added two more in the second period.

 

Grayson made six changes to the side that took on Jamshedpur FC in the opening encounter, handing starts to Sandesh Jhingan, Aleksandar Jovanovic and Krishna. Chhetri and Krishna started in attack for the Blues, who set up in a 3-5-2 formation.

 

Bengaluru started strong, making inroads from the get go and took only nine minutes to break the deadlock. A long diagonal from Jovanovic fell to Krishna, who brushed off his marker and finished past Shibin Raj in the IAF goal. Fifteen minutes later, Chhetri doubled the lead, converting a seemingly harmless cross into the area from the tightest of angles off an IAF defender.

 

IAF’s best chance of the half fell to Mohammed Aqib, but his shot from distance was parried away by Gurpreet. Into the second period, Bengaluru rang in a change as Jhingan was replaced by Udanta Singh. Prabir Das fell into the three-man backline as Udanta took his place.

 

Bengaluru continued to push forward, and made three more changes in quick succession past the hour mark as Faisal, Alan and Parag made their way on to replace Jovanovic, Muirang and Krishna. Only three minutes on from his introduction, Faisal wrote his name into the scoresheet, slotting in from close range after Wangjam had done well to keep the ball in play for Udanta.

 

Into extra-time, Bengaluru had another substitute on the scoresheet with Sivasakthi, who had replaced Chhetri just moments earlier, running onto a pass from Wangjam and slotting past Shibin Raj.

 

Bengaluru face FC Goa next, at the VYBK, on August 30th.

 

Bengaluru begin Durand Cup campaign with Jamshedpur challenge

Bengaluru FC Media 

Bengaluru FC Head Coach Simon Grayson will take charge of his side for the first time as they take on Jamshedpur FC in their opening encounter of the 2022 Durand Cup, at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan, in Kolkata, on Wednesday. The Blues are making their third appearance at the Durand Cup, having previously bowed out of the tournament at the quarterfinal (2014) and semifinal (2021) stages.

“We’re really excited to take part in a competition that has a rich history and tradition associated with it. This is a part of our pre-season preparation, ahead of the Indian Super League, but we want to give a good account of ourselves. Playing the Durand Cup means our season will take place over a longer period this year, and we will have to make sure that we strike a right balance to maintain the fitness of all our players through the campaign,” said Grayson, ahead of the encounter.

Bengaluru’s squad for the Durand Cup includes new signings Prabir Das, Roy Krishna, Sandesh Jhingan, Javi Hernandez, Aleksandar Jovanovic, Hira Mondal, Amrit Gope and Faisal Ali, who are also part of the group of players that arrived in Kolkata on Sunday.

“We have some exciting new players and a group of really good youngsters who have come through the Academy as well. We want them to play together for as many minutes as possible, so that they can gel well and get to understand each other in a competitive environment,” added Grayson.

Jamshedpur FC, led by Youth Team coach Indranil Chakraborty, are set to field a team comprising youngsters, including India U20 goalkeeper Mohit Singh Dhami, who most recently won the U20 SAFF Championship, in Bhubaneswar.

“We’re aware that Jamshedpur FC and some other teams have registered a development squad for this tournament. We did the same last year and our youngsters did exceptionally well. We want to approach this tournament with our first team as it gives us an opportunity to be ready for what is going to be a tough season,” Grayson added.

Kick-off between the Blues and Jamshedpur FC is scheduled for 2.30 pm and will be telecast on the Sports18 network, with live streaming available on VOOT Select and Jio TV.

 

Bengaluru FC announce 25-man squad for 131st Durand Cup

Bengaluru FC Media

Bengaluru FC, on Monday, announced their 25-man squad for the 131st edition of the Durand Cup, set to begin with a clash against Jamshedpur FC at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan, in Kolkata, on Wednesday. Simon Grayson’s side, having wrapped up a three week preseason camp at the Inspire Institute of Sport in Bellary, landed in the City of Joy on Sunday. 

As many as eight new signings feature in the Blues’ squad for the tournament, with Roy Krishna, Prabir Das, Javi Hernandez, Sandesh Jhingan, Faisal Ali, Hira Mondal, Aleksandar Jovanovic and Amrit Gope making the list. Bengaluru went down on penalties to eventual champions FC Goa with a squad comprising youngsters and no foreigners, in their most recent appearance at the Durand Cup.

Bengaluru have been drawn alongside Jamshepdur FC, FC Goa, Indian Air Force FT and Mohammedan SC in Group A, with the top two teams from each group set to make it through to the knockout rounds.

SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Lara Sharma, Amrit Gope

Defenders: Alan Costa, Namgyal Bhutia, Parag Shrivas, Wungngayam Muirang, Prabir Das, Hira Mondal, Sandesh Jhingan, Aleksandar Jovanovic

Midfielders: Bruno Ramires, Jayesh Rane, Suresh Wangjam, Danish Farooq, Rohit Kumar, Biswa Darjee, Javi Hernandez

Strikers: Sunil Chhetri (C), Prince Ibara, Udanta Singh, Sivasakthi Narayanan, Leon Augustine, Roy Krishna, Faisal Ali